Windows 8 would appreciate recommendations

[Daddy Dee]

Back during the fall was planning to get a new laptop for wife ad decided to wait until they shipped with Windows 8. Never had much appreciation for "upgrade" coupons which necessitate starting with the old OS and then supposedly getting a clean install on top of that.

Have mostly seen advertising for Windows cell phones and Surface tablet. The way Windows 8 is being marketed it leaves me wondering if there is a serious OS under there somewhere.

Lots of businesses are just now upgrading to Windows 7 from XP.

Windows 8 GUI looks like it's optimized for touch screens with lots of "just stuff' to move around. Looks busy and designed to cater to ADHD.

In the guts of this thing is there anything different or better than Windows 7?

Any thoughts appreciated. Need to get wife's laptop ordered before year's end.

[Shodrewken]

I'd say find a laptop that has Win 7 or "downgrade" Win 8 to Win 7. IMHO 8 is good for the cellphone/tablet sector, however for non-touchscreen laptops and desktops Win 8 feels clunky and just not very streamlined. I guess there are workarounds to make 8 look and operate more like 7, but if that's the case why not just get 7 instead? Reviews online say Win 8 is quicker, but I have had both OS's side by side and I don't feel 8 gives that much of a appreciable speed boost. At the end of the day if your wife is looking for something that just works out of the box, is supported by virtually all hardware/software manufacturers and is just a good proven OS I say go for Win 7. Microsoft will be supporting it with patches and hotfixes for sometime to come.

[Marvel]

Windows 7 has mainstream support through 2015, extended support through 2020.

I have been trying Win 8 on an older Dell (Optiplex 755). I would say it is running faster than Win 7. Some of the operations for use in a desktop are pretty nice, once you start to use it a while.

Bruce

[seti]

Win 8 is just terrible.... Worse thing since ME. I hope to skip it. Win 7 has finally matured and isn't as glitchy. It seems very stable.

[Marvel]

Win 8 is just terrible.... Worse thing since ME

Nope, that would be Vista... You're just an Apple aficionado!

Win 8 WILL be a bit more difficult on a desktop, but it's mostly Win 7 with the tablet features. That's why all the Windows 7 progrmas will run on it with no problem.

Bruce

[JJkizak]

Very little difference between Vista 64 bit and Windows 7 64 bit as long as you use the older GUI stuff without the fluff. Vista took a lot of hits because the older/newer drivers were way behind the times. Once the drivers caught up everything was solid as a rock. You also want to keep in mind that Win7 does not like old stuff. Win 8 is designed for the kids. That in itself will baffle older wiser people.

JJK

[Mallette]

Within the professional community, the attitude towards W8 is the most divided I've ever seen. It's either the biggest advance or the worst disaster ever since the MS monopoly came into being, depending on who you read.

What MS is trying to do is right...recognize that tablets and touch devices are the future. Problem is that MS established itself as the OS of business and industry and the needs of those users isn't the same as the general public. In fact, the public has been basically ignored by MS and 90% of the code in the OS is completely useless to Joe Average User.

I can offer this much advice based on past experience:

1. Few business or professional users make any switch until at least the first service pack. They've learned to let the public do the debugging.

2. Most large enterprises skip very other version. That is, many who are on XP will switch after SP1 is released, those on W7 may well wait for W9 or SP3 or so, depending on how things go.

It's dicey, DD. As Pogo the Possum used to say "You pays yer dollar and takes yer choice." If you were getting a Surface or other tablet/touchscreen device, W8 MIGHT be the better choice. Hitting those little widgets to minimize, close, and such is hard enough with a stylus and downright irritating with one fingers, so the W8 interface can be a relief in those areas. However, going with a keyboard/mouse device W7 may be your safer choice.

Dave

[Daddy Dee]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the feedback here. excellent food for thought!

[seti]

Win 8 is just terrible.... Worse thing since ME

Nope, that would be Vista... You're just an Apple aficionado!

Win 8 WILL be a bit more difficult on a desktop, but it's mostly Win 7 with the tablet features. That's why all the Windows 7 progrmas will run on it with no problem.

Bruce

Yup I have my mac but I support 15 win servers 200+ PC's and multiple networks.

Vista was so bad I pretend it didn't even exist. Win 7 works for me but I have to tweak it abit but it appears stable. Win 8 appears to be a pathetic attempt to try to be mac. Microsoft needs to ditch Balmer and bring back Gates.

[Marvel]

Vista was so bad I pretend it didn't even exist.

We have students who still have hand-me-down laptops runnings Vista. I cringe when they come in with problems.

Win 7 works for me but I have to tweak it abit but it appears stable.

We are still rolling out Win 7 Prof. for everyone on campus. A lot of the roaming profile things are a crapshoop for Enterprise use, but it isquite stable. After having CP for so long, any change is rough.

Win 8 appears to be a pathetic attempt to try to be mac. Microsoft needs to ditch Balmer and bring back Gates.

As Dave says, they recognize that tablets and portable devices are going to be moving more and more into mainstream enterprise use. Our HVAC guys have laptops so they can get back into their system from anywhere. We're looking at replacing those with tablets or something like the MS surface. They could still have a reall keyboard if they want/need it at their desks, but can carry more easily on campuse going to different buildings.

Win 8 is mostly a more tweaked 7 underneath the newer interface. It's no harder than switching to any other totally different interface.

[] ...and I know you support a lot of Windows machines. I mostly supportWindows, but am also supporting the comeback of Macs on campus, so I have a Mac Pro on my desk so they aren't too foreign to me.

Bruce

[Mallette]

I've a Samsung tablet and I like it a lot. Small, all day battery, fast enough for word processing, email, web, etc without frustration. Nice bluetooth keyboard and the whole thing goes in a very small case for travel.

Pretty sure the day of the laptop is done.

OTOH, as I mentioned, the W7 widgets require use of the stylus for speed or accuracy. That's why I'm open to W8 though I don't really understand why the "fallback" mode for non-touch use isn't more "classic."

Dave

[seti]

...and I know you support a lot of Windows machines. I mostly supportWindows, but am also supporting the comeback of Macs on campus, so I have a Mac Pro on my desk so they aren't too foreign to me.

Bruce

Personally I am scared of how long Apple will be good without Jobs. If they screw OS X in the next couple years I'll go back to Linux unless something new shows up or Windows does something remarkable which is unlikely.

[Cal Blacksmith]

I hate it,no I mean I HATE IT !!!!!![:@]

I played with it on some demo laptops. If I wanted an apple or Mac, that is what I would buy! If I wanted a giant tablet, I would spend the bucks for that but there is NO way they are getting any of my "upgrade" dollars for that pile of crap!

One of the big selling points is that you can have your desktop any way you like it and you can group anything you want anyway you want. UH, EXCUSE ME, I can do that anyway with folders on my desktop. I don't need giant floating pictures on my disktop. I don't care a bit to have my FACEBOOK automatically updated all the time, I don't even have access to the internet at home and nearly every "feature" of this pile o cra* requires internet.

Nope, not one cent from me!

Ask me how I REALLY feel sometime and I will tell you.[]